Nebraska schools, students show improvement on state tests (AUDIO)

Nebraska public schools and students seemed to be making progress, according to a report issued today by the Nebraska Department of Education.

Nearly three of every four public school districts graduated 90% or more of their high school seniors. Most school districts demonstrated improvement and growth under the new state accountability results.

“First of all, as we reported last August, the overall story is that Nebraska public school students are making progress and we attribute that to Nebraska teachers and administrators who have consistently demonstrated this trend over the last decade,” Nebraska Education Commissioner Roger Breed stated during a news conference today at the Department of Education offices in Lincoln.

More than 152,000 students from all 249 public school districts took the standardized tests, from elementary schools to middle schools as well as juniors in high school.

The new accountability report uses student scores to measure the progress of their school districts, whether the districts demonstrated both improvement and growth; whether test scores this year exceeded those the previous year.

“On this measure, 185 of 248 school districts demonstrated improvement across the grades on the reading tests,” according to Breed. “177 of 248 school districts demonstrated improvement across the grades on the math tests.”

This year, 180 or 249 Nebraska public school districts graduated 90% of more of their high school seniors. More than 50 school districts graduated all of their seniors. Statewide, 88% of the high school seniors graduated, up from 86% last year.

As for student scores, 74.2% of the state students passed the reading tests, up from 71.8% the year before. Math scores improved from 62.8% to 67.4%. In science, 66.9% scored proficient and in writing, 73.3%.